


A History Of The Marquise

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Other, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-08 14:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4309038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No. I cannot stop. Not now, not ever.</p>
<p>It was odd if she stopped to think on it long enough. How eight stupid words that anyone could say, was what pushed the great Marquise Spinneret Mindfang. It was almost laughable, but it was true.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A History Of The Marquise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cosmicConundrum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicConundrum/gifts).



No. I cannot stop. Not now, not ever.

This was always the thing that had pushed her. Those eight simple words all strung together through the cerulean blood’s mind. It was odd if she stopped to think on it long enough. How eight stupid words that anyone could say, was what pushed the great Marquise Spinneret Mindfang. It was almost laughable, but it was true. The words that meant she could always be better. That she could always keep going and always get what she wanted. This was the motto that Mindfang lived her life by, and she wasn’t going to let anyone stand in her way. She never had, and she never would.

From the time she was a wriggler, barely out of pupation with a massive spider lusus to keep fed and decently content. Back when her name was still Aranea. Running around the coastal hive she inhabited, sheltered from most of the Empire’s words and law, yet open to any danger that slunk through the forest. Most learned to stay away, either from the massive spider that slumbered in the sea side cave beside the hive, or from Mindfang herself. Tricking and trapping using her wit, and later on adding in what little of her powers she could grasp at the time. It gave her the nickname and eventual title she bore until death. Mindfang. 

And she was far from stopping.

Quick as a whip with her words, and no holding back. Aranea’s first few sweeps were spent in almost uncontrolled chaos of life. Learning to survive in the cut throat world they called Alternia. Once she grew older, she began to explore other areas. Mostly the close by port towns, and the nearby capital city. 

Having a sea dweller as a ruler gave lee way for the rich violet bloods to populate the coastal cities. Crawling with violets bloods with shark teeth who would beat low bloods who so much looked at them the wrong way. They were the unsung lords of Alternia, and no one would dare speak against them. The small amount of enforcements were from the Imperial guard or skulking, volatile subjugs. Indigo members of the church of the Dark Carnival, with twisted grins and face paint. Either way, meeting your end by either was not pretty. Even the all-powerful legisclacerators, bound by their laws and rules, were still rough to tango with. You had to fend for yourself, or be taken down.

Markets, of both goods and trolls, flourished in these areas. Fruits, meats, weapons, slaves and prostitutes. Always trolls yelling for the best price, and auctions for the highest bidder. With the ports always bustling, it wasn’t hard for the future Marquise to thread between the crowds unnoticed. Seeing all that this new and brutal world had to offer. It was her chance to see what she liked, and to figure out pretty fast what she despised. 

Her new found impression on the world was bark-beast eat bark-beast, and she couldn’t stand knowing that she could be snatched up in someone else’s jaws as fast as she could make eye contact. Powers, or not. Of higher blood, or not. She knew she was going to have to fight if she wanted anything out of this world. And if tooth, claw and plenty of mind games were the way to do it, then so be it. As far as she was concerned, it was game on. And Aranea had no intention of losing or giving up any time soon. 

Her rebellion started in her own little ways. Pick-pocketing people, spying for both her own interest and people who could promise money and picking off poor low bloods for her lusus. She never took a partner. She didn’t need one to be good at what she did, and she didn’t want to stick her neck out for anyone. Most took no notice of her, but she slowly built her reputation up with the underground and the criminals. If you wanted information, or to give someone a push to do something, she was the girl to go to. And it was good for her. To practice her powers and grow her confidence. To learn the tricks of the trade and get around. 

But by nine sweeps, the towns had grown old news to her. There was no more challenge, and nothing left for her there. It was then that she turned her sights to the sea, and more specifically, to the pirate ships.

Her first experience was as a stowaway on a small pirate ship. Hoping to introduce herself once they had gone out to sea. They found her while loading supplies and she was promptly escorted off the ship with more than a few threats and nasty comments. And so ended Aranea’s first adventure as a pirate. But within the week she was at it again, this time approaching a captain in hopes of becoming a crew member. He agreed, and immediately instated her as the cabin girl. Not the glamour and treasure she had been hoping for, but it was a good start.

Picking up even more from the crew around her, learning things that she would have never learned on land. Between moping decks, cooking and being a general helper, she picked up a great deal of things by watching and practicing in her spare time. How to tie knots, basic navigation, steering the ship and even the basics of sword fighting. It was all good, and over the two sweeps she stayed with them, she left quite the impression on the crew. It would have been tragic to see her leave, if most hadn’t been killed by a raging storm in the South Sea. Prime area for sea dweller and Imperial navy attacks. It had been more of Aranea’s never ending luck that got her picked up. 

It was a navy ship, yes. But it was only too easy for her to spin a tale of modest fishing work, or out to have some fun in the sea when the storm came in. They let her go on land without question, and the whole thing had left a sour taste in her mouth, along with a new fire to keep on the legacy of the first crew.

For a time, she went back to basic thievery. Checking and caring for her aging lusus for a handful of sweeps. All the while building on her skills. Mastering her sword abilities, as well as her mental ones. Hearing thoughts if she focused, and controlling low bloods into killing each other. Good practice, and better food for the spider. Meanwhile, she built up on her reputation, finding more and more people she took a shining to. Or those that would willingly follow under her orders. They were few and far between, but eventually the number grew. It was her first crew member that gave her the suggestion for her title. 

Marquise, he suggested for her blood status, while Spinneret for her love of spiders and in honor of her lusus. From there, it was as simple as adding her life time nickname of Mindfang to the end. 

And as the blue blood women, at eighteen sweeps, placed the newly purchased blue and black hat upon her head. Checked her sword and boarded her first ship, one she admirably named ‘The Widow’, it was obvious to anyone who looked at her that Aranea Serket was dead. It was in those orders of cast off that she died, and Marquise Spinneret Mindfang was born. The greatest pirate captain to ever sail the Alternian seas. But of course she wasn’t when they first left harbor.

So she would just have to fix that.

From there, it was a jagged climb to the top. Organizing raids, attacking ships, making alliances with some; others were turned down and disposed of. That was just business, it was cut throat and that was how it had to be. Even with her power and crew, there were still times when the new pirate had to back down from a challenge. To lie low and figure out a plan before striking them down. This became a trend and common tactic, and it worked almost perfectly. For sweeps that was the main idea, until she get on top that is. But that all changed when he showed up.

The newest Orphaner to her imperial majesty, Dualscar.

The first time him and Mindfang ran into each other was at sea, of course. Sudden blasts of canons alerted the men into action. Scrambling into action, he nearly ran straight into the hooked sword of hers half way up to deck. Something she could tell he didn’t take too kindly. 

Curses, teases and mockery were thrown between the two. Shouts of anger could be heard from the deck above, yet a certain desired burned in their chests as they dueled. Hot and dark, a disgusting brew of hate and lust. Neither could deny that the other was attractive, and both saw potential in the other. But it wasn’t what they wanted. It was everything they hoped for in a person, with the wrong delivery and way of life. And along with all that hate and wanting of each other, came the need to fix the other. To want to bend and break them into something the other could live with. 

He found her arrogant, rebellious and chaotic. Things that would get a man, much more a women, beaten into submission under his control. And though she was clever and quick witted, her tongue was sharp and he hated her more upon finding half his crew blindly dancing with each other for hours on end. If she could have been molded into a proper sailor, a solider. Obedient yet fierce, perhaps then things would have been different. 

But they weren’t and at the end of it all, she left him with three things. Two new scars, a half destroyed ship and enough black desire to fill the ocean eight times over.

It’s a long time he spends chasing her around the sea. Going off leads of spectators, and old maps. Not even her own stupid advice helps him. Elusive and always on the move, she always finds him first. There and gone like a storm, she takes what she wants from him and leaves nothing but marks on his body to show for it. She meets him and they go, for hours. Glass shattered, things strewn across the cabin and slamming each other into walls.

He looks for her, and so does the empire. With a bounty on her head that grows every day, it’s no wonder the Empress wants Mindfang caught. With a criminal record as long as the pirate is tall in her boots, it’s a wonder she’s public enemy number two. Just behind the Signless rebellion. Of course while Mindfang wants her life her way, she watches from the side lines in silent support of the mutant blood preacher. Even going so far as to wear his sign beneath her clothes, one more thing to anger the empire while she’s at it.

The Signless becomes the Sufferer. His family, as he called it, enslaved, broken and exiled. It’s a wonder anyone managed anything while he was at large. And his entire fiasco gave her just enough time to reset course, keep away from land and from the authorities she knows they will now send after her. Now she’s public enemy number one, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Not a simple life, not as a second rate criminal. Only the spot of the greatest criminal will do for her. 

This is where the legends of the Marquise intertwine with the destinies of others. Where her choices and decisions affect trolls for generations. The jade blood she steals from her darling Dualscar. A slave she found herself losing herself over, almost obsessive and almost loving, before being ripped out of her claws by the man she first took her from. The legisclacerator with red glasses and her own obsession with justice. Clever, and a good tactician. She surprised the pirate, in more ways than one. But it was her arrogance that led to her down fall. Two women within five sweeps, one she could have found a lover, the other a possible better black mate then what Dualscar could have hoped to provide. Even in his death.

And finally the Summoner. Rufioh, he eventually asked her to call him. He trusted her, where no one else had. And she trusted him in return. She watched him lead a rebellion almost as great as the preaching of the Signless. Mindfang saw the way he looked at her and saw her and not another criminal. And oddly enough she was alright with that. It was the red romance that wrigglers dreamed for when they were younger, but it all had to come to an end.

It all came crashing fast, slowly and painfully in the heat of battle. Bleeding out over the deck of a ship, staring up at the sky as blue pooled around her. Barely hearing him when he came to her, using the last of her strength to ask, to beg him to kill her. He refused, the stubborn bastard. He cried and said he wouldn’t let her die, that she could be saved. But Aranea shook her head, laughed like she just found the best treasure all over again and begged once more for him to end her suffering. To not prolong it any more.

After all there was nothing else this world could offer her any more. She had beaten it all. No. I cannot stop. Not now, not ever. And she wasn’t going to. Death was the next adventure, the next hurdle for the great Marquise Spinneret Mindfang.

**Author's Note:**

> Ta da! Oh man, this went a lot longer then I thought it was going to. Gonna keep this short and sweet. Here you are cosmicConundrum! Here is my fic for your prompt of more adventures of Mindfang. I really hope you enjoyed it, and I can't wait to see who got my own prompts. I hope everyone enjoyed this work, and again, thank you for reading~!


End file.
